A week ago in the season opener, Chivas USA put on the same old show in a lackluster defeat.

On Sunday, a new Chivas appeared, and not only because the Goats won an MLS game for the first time in 16 regular-season contests.

"If you go to a coach and grind and grind for the good of the team, at the end it rewards you," Chivas coach Jose Luis Sanchez Sola said. "There is a saying, it doesn't really translate to English: 'In a barrel of fecal, grinding and grinding, you finally poke your head up to get the fresh air.' "

When Jorge Vergara held his press conference announcing the relaunch of the franchise, he urged anyone in the room to learn Spanish. Vergara didn't say anything about which tutor he might select for prospective students.

But buoyed by the recent birth of his third grandchild three days prior, "El Chelis" reveled in Chivas' 3-1 victory over FC Dallas at Home Depot Center, eight days after his club was miserable in a 3-0 home loss to Columbus.

Sure, Dallas played a role with some sloppy turnovers that turned the game around in the second half. But Sanchez Sola was indignant that at least for a day, his team had achieved a monumental result.

"Come on, give me one for my players. Chivas win," Sanchez Sola said in English. "Why, when Chivas make a goal, it's because the defense is very, very bad? No, it's very nice, my offense, cabron."

The celebration was on for Chivas, which finished the 2012 season with a 0-10-4 run. In five of those defeats, the Goats lost by four goals.

But everything turned when midfielder Oswaldo Minda scored a gift goal when Dallas defender George John couldn't handle a pass from teammate Je-Vaughn Watson. Minda took it off John's foot, cleared some space and scored to give Chivas a 2-1 lead in the 76 th minute.

It was the first time in 10 games Chivas actually held a lead in a game. And when Giovanni Casillas finished a 3-on-1 break with a goal in the 93 rd minute, Chivas was assured of its first win since July 28.

Is it too soon to pull out the "if the playoffs started today, Chivas would be a participant" chatter?

"A little bit of relief without a doubt," goalkeeper and captain Dan Kennedy said. "But I didn't doubt this group. The greatest thing was we went down a goal and fought back. Definitely some character there.

"The important thing is that through all this change, we don't take some results the wrong way and then we're playing catch-up. Now we're in the mix, we're in the fight and that's where we need to be. We need to be competing against all the other teams in the Western Conference."

Kennedy, who made six saves - starting in the 23 rd second of the game, when he robbed Kenny Cooper at point-blank range - helped his team reach the half in a scoreless tie.

But in the 57 th minute, Dallas midfielder David Ferreira, a former MLS MVP, worked his way past defender Joaquin Velasquez and scooted a shot underneath Kennedy for the game's first goal.

That stood for 11 minutes, when Chivas defender Walter Vilchez sent a long pass to Juan Agudelo, who beat defender Matt Hedges and blasted a shot past Raul Fernandez to tie the game.

It was a convincing moment for Chivas.

"It shows how much heart we have," Agudelo said. "And most importantly, we know now that in games in the future where we might fall back and we don't have things going our way, we're capable of coming back."

Sanchez Sola inserted MLS veterans Agudelo, Bobby Burling, Miller Bolanos and Minda into the starting lineup, and that seemed to have a calming effect on a team that has had a radical makeover.

Or as El Chelis said after the first game: "I've got to get all of the stupidities out of my head and help my players."